Seeking God’s Guidance and Wisdom

Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Psalm 25:5 (NIV) “Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.”

John 16:13 (NIV) “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”

Psalm 139:16-17 (NKJV) “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Proverbs 1:1-7 (NIV) ”The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior; doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young-let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

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My second son was very literal when he was a young boy. When we had plans outside of the home, he would ask where we were going, how long we would be there, who would be there, and what we would do before he was at peace with our plans. It’s not that he was particularly anxious about leaving home; he just wanted to be prepared to find purpose in it.

Looking at this from an adult perspective, I realized that this is often how we approach our daily lives, too. We want to know where we are going, who we will encounter, and how they will interact in the plans for us, and when it will all pull together for our good! Unfortunately, this attitude leads to many self-motivated “hurry up and wait” and “start over again” paths on our journey. Big disappointments here.

Before God created us in the womb, He had purpose and plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). In the big picture of our lives, those plans come with a specific timing when we, and all the others involved, have been molded by our Heavenly Sculptor enough through the blessings, circumstances, and trials in our lives (Romans 8:28). Then, by the Lord’s omniscience and omnipresence, He is able to bring us together to accomplish those purposes.

However, in our daily lives, we have multitudes of choices and decisions to start with. Many of these seem so mundane that we “don’t want to bother” the Lord with them. We “rely on our own understanding” and lack submitting ourselves to His plans (Proverbs 3:5-6). We forget that He is the One who sees the whole picture and knows what is best in each situation we encounter.

We are to submit ourselves to God, seek His plan in prayer and Biblical wisdom, apply that wisdom and instruction, and pray it through. Going deeper, He reminds us that there is wisdom in many counselors (Proverbs 11:14), but it all starts with seeking His will, even asking for His guidance in what to pray. The Holy Spirit has been given to us at salvation. He is the One who will teach us all the truth and help us to make the right decisions. He will direct us to specific wisdom that correlates to our present questions. We might be led to a Bible character’s story or wisdom sayings included in the book of Proverbs. A friendly testimony or sermon may be used to direct us, too.

Prepare yourself by studying God’s wisdom. The complete Bible book of Proverbs has wise instructions from King Solomon that can be read a chapter a day to build understanding and wisdom. By gleaning the point of wisdom sayings, Bible stories, parables, and scriptures, we have resources that alert us to the guidance the Lord wants to give us. It renews our minds. Like King Jehoshaphat, in times of trouble, we can lay our cares and needs before God and ask for His guidance. As God told the king in 2 Chronicles 20:17, God, Himself, would fight the battle. Like He did with the king, God will show us what to do, too. He has the answers.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

Isaiah 26:3 (NIV) “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.”